A lifestyle blog for those of us who want to have a positive impact on the world

I’m in a bit of a blogging rut at the moment but thought it would be cool to share my favourite pieces I bought from People Tree (this isn’t sponsored – just genuinely love the brand!). I think ethical fashion can get a bad reputation for being ‘too hippy’ and/or ‘boring’ but hopefully this shows otherwise!

I’ve put them in the order I got them – the last 2 are still available in the sale for under £25! The roll neck jumper dress is here and the burgundy print tunic is here.

I regularly wear the first three for work and the last one is more for fun – it has rabbits printed all over it, so I thought it’d be perfect for Easter!

They all wash really well and I love how they fit – they’re all in UK size 10, which is my usual size.

This month I’ve been loving a few things – a couple are from the January sales and there’s a Christmas present too!

First of all is this People Tree dress – £25.50 in the sale! I think that’s a bargain as it’s a well made staple that you can wear so many different ways. I’ve already work it a lot to work and I’ve always felt very polished and it’s just because it looks lovely on. I wear it with a waist belt to break up the black a bit.

These Toms are also a January Sale purchase! They’re £36 and they’re great for mild winter/early spring because of the fluffy lining that keep your feet nice and toasty 🙂 All I can really say is they’re cosy, comfy, and look a bit different to plain black shoes!

Then there’s the book ‘Why Women Will Save the Planet‘ – it’s a collection of essays compiled by Friends of the Earth. I’ve not quite finished it yet, but it shows some unique viewpoints on gender and climate change – well worth a read.

Finally, a beauty favourite! I bought Gosh’s Sweetheart when there was an offer on in Superdrug – it wasn’t planned so I was pleasantly surprised with how much I like this. On my lips it looks like a cool toned mauve, with brown undertones – it’s a hint at the 90s thing going on without being too in your face about it! It’s also really flattering, and of course cruelty free.

This month’s favourites has been short and sweet – I’m testing out a few new bits of skin care so that might make it into February’s post! I’m also looking forward to a bit more sun as it gets closer to spring 🙂

If you have followed my blog for a while, you may be wondering where last week’s Meat Free Monday recipe was? I’ve decided that 52 was enough and I’m not a good enough cook to create 52 more unique and tasty vegetarian and vegan dishes… If you want inspiration then it’s all still here on the blog!

Ultimately, the challenge to blog about it each week showed me a variety of new ingredients that can be used as a substitute for meat. It also showed how varied a diet can be without including meat at all… Especially as around half the meals were also vegan!

This has shown me I CAN go meat free consistently, therefore my New Year’s Resolution is to go vegetarian apart from when I go out to eat (and then avoid red meat). Also, I’ve switched to dairy-free milk and yoghurt, so I’ve drastically reduced my dairy intake! For me, this is quite a change.

I may still blog a recipe when I find a great new one, but it definitely won’t be every week! I hope this all makes sense and I’m still going to be blogging regularly about sustainable living.

As energy and climate change minister, you’ve made some… let’s say interesting decisions over the past year on tackling climate change. But don’t worry, 2016 could be a brand new start! To help you out we’ve put together a list of new year’s resolutions you might want to consider when you get back to the office tomorrow:

Fully commit to the 1.5C target. The new global climate change agreement commits us to take action to limit global warming to 1.5°C and ensure it stays “well below” 2°C. But you’ve said the target is just “aspirational”, and we should stick with the UK’s current 2°C target – a temperature rise that will have a huge impact on countless lives and increase the likelihood of the climate reaching dangerous tipping points. Getting the 1.5°C target included in the text of the agreement was one of the few triumphs of the Paris talks – who better to take the lead on implementing it than the country that kicked off burning all this fossil fuel in the first place (i.e. us)?

Find climate finance that doesn’t come from the existing aid budget. It was agreed in the Paris negotiations that at least $100 billion per year will be mobilised by 2020 to help developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate change. While this is well short of what’s needed, it’s a start at least. But you’ve decided to take the UK’s contribution from the Overseas Development Aid (ODA) budget, essentially cutting it by 8-10% *facepalm*! Poverty and climate change are interlinked, but there needs to be additional money rather than a dodgy reshuffling of budgets that leaves the poorest worse off.

Stop piling money on fossil fuel companies. Your department is brimming with rhetoric on choosing the most low cost route to providing energy to all us hardworking consumer types. But with the UK recently singled out among G20 countries for increasing its financial support for fossil fuel producers, we reckon it might be time to turn over a new leaf, drop the tax breaks to foreign-owned multinationals and invest in a real low cost, clean energy future. Oh and remember to follow up on that idea of yours to stop supporting dirty diesel generators over more efficient forms of back-up energy to provide extra power at peak times.

Rethink the whole fracking fiasco. The decision to allow fracking under national parks was made just a few days after you signed up to the Paris agreement, but is completely incompatible with the 1.5°C target we’re supposed to be working towards. Fracking is another false solution that will push problems onto the next generation – when technologies that do not rely on fossil fuels exist right now. Plus the government’s unwavering support for fracking, at the expense of what local communities want, is raising serious questions for our democracy.

Accelerate the UK’s transition to renewables. Over the past few years UK renewable energy deployment has been gathering momentum. This must continue in 2016 if there’s to be hope of meeting the 1.5°C target. Sadly, your 2015 renewables policy changes were a series of destructive blunders. Most recently, just after signing the Paris Agreement, you published a plan to wipe out more than half of the UK solar industry. As a result, solar companies are going bust left and right and you’ve put 18,700 people’s jobs at risk. But new year, fresh start! Let’s make 2016 a year for clear vision, renewable energy and secure green jobs.

Support the best value technologies. We heard a lot in 2015 about making the energy transition at the lowest possible cost. It was even in your election manifesto (right next to a pledge to end support for wind energy… thanks for that…). But since then the best value and most popular renewable technologies (hint: onshore wind and solar) have been given a pummelling by your department. This is all rather curious and puzzling. To meet our commitments under the new Paris Agreement we need to make full use of every tool available – especially the best ones! Onshore wind and solar are crucial and 2016 is the year you should give them your full support!

Let everyone in on the plan. Dealing with climate change requires action in lots of different areas: power, transport, housing, agriculture, waste, flood defenses… You mentioned recently that there’s a government committee (Q79) coordinating things, but that it’s top secret and very hush hush. A committee with such a crucial job to do needs to be transparent and accountable. It also must not be under the spell of our hopelessly climate-confused Chancellor. We look forward to hearing all about it soon!

Stop daydreaming that technology is going to bring all the answers. We know daydreams can be fun, but when it comes to something as serious as climate change, we need concrete action not a shaky hope that something might come along (…everyone, cross your fingers…). You might well vaguely think that we will need “some sort of negative emissions technology”, but perhaps a back-up plan would be a good idea incase it doesn’t turn up at the appointed time? Which it’s even less likely to do if your government keeps cutting promised support for it.There are plenty of ways we can already cut emissions – it’s time to see these rolled out across the country NOW!

Acknowledge the historical responsibility of the UK over climate change. You argued against an agreement which would “open up the issue of compensation and reparations”. We disagree. The UK was one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters over the industrial period, leaving us with a responsibility to help other countries deal with the climate change we’ve helped create. Just because you don’t want to pay doesn’t make that go away! Loss and damage due to climate change is already happening – in just one example, a recent hurricane in the Bahamas caused $100m in damage, equal to 10% of the country’s GDP. Your suggestion that countries take out “insurance schemes” to protect themselves against problems we helped create makes a mockery of international justice. Sort it Amber!

Quit embarrassing us and start taking this seriously! You seem to be oddly confident of the UK’s standing on climate change policy. But with cuts being made left, right and centre to renewables support, energy efficiency schemes and even your own department, not everyone thinks you’re doing such a sterling job. And despite current UK targets already falling well short of what’s needed, in a recently leaked letter you admitted the UK is on track to miss its (legally binding) target on renewable energy anyway. Choices made by today’s government will massively impact people across the world for centuries to come – don’t you reckon it’s time to shape up and set the UK on a path to protect their safety and wellbeing?

Hello everyone! I hope you’ve had a great few days, and I wish you a happy new year 🙂

I’ve been loving a couple of products this month – both from Lush. The first one is a Shampoo Bar called ‘New’ £5.95 – I’ve been using it for over a month and I’ve hardly made a dent! It’s a solid bar containing cinnamon, clove and peppermint and it’s supposed to stimulate the hair follicles to grow faster. I don’t know about that claim, but it smells amazing (if you like peppermint!).

The other product is the Salt and Peppermint Bark Shower Scrub which was £5.95, but it was a winter exclusive and now it’s not on the website 😦 It’s such a shame because I loved this! I’ll be savouring the last few uses of this because I really love the smell of peppermint… And I think it’s a great scrub. Even though it specifies use in the shower, I always use it in the bath because then you can control how wet it gets and how quickly you get through it.

The photo also shows another addition to my plant collection… It’s getting a bit out of hand, but I couldn’t resist!

The ‘smash the patriarchy’ pillow is actually a Christmas present – it perfectly matches my bedroom colours and I just love it so much! It also means a lot that my parents are accepting of my feminist views.

I’ve really loved having my sister visit this month as she’s away from university. One thing we did was see the movie Sisters; it stars Amy Poehler and Tina Fey (who I love!), and it’s just super funny.

I spent the second week of December in Paris for the climate negotiations. I blogged about why I was going last month, and I have to include it in my favourites because it was an incredible week. It was so emotional and I cried both happy and sad tears, but I’m really glad I went. It’s hard to articulate, but I hope that the deal that was agreed upon is a signal for change. This is a photo of me at the protest on Saturday 12th December by the Eiffel Tower – one of the many ‘highs’ of the week!

December has ultimately been a great month and I’ve really enjoyed the last week of festivities!

I hope everyone is having a lovely break – I really do love this time of year, I think it’s great to catch up with family and friends, but it also gives you some breathing space from the usual every day stuff.

I made this bake because I had more time than usual! Also, I actually ate this on Christmas day, but I’ve been slowly getting through it since then 🙂

I used this recipe from Thug Kitchen – it’s not too complicated, although I did have to specifically buy a couple of ingredients (tempeh, hominy corn).

It did smell amazing when it was all mixing together, but I was a little doubtful that it’d be good enough for Christmas… I was wrong! It’s so tasty and wayy better than dry turkey.

Also, tempeh is hard to get hold of (at least in the UK), but it’s worth it – the texture is amazing, a lot better than tofu. It held together so well and absorbed the other flavours.

This dish takes a bit more effort than most of the other meat free meals I’ve posted on here, but it’s definitely worth it! It also reheated fine in the oven for a few minutes so it’s lasted me a few days.

This is the last meat free meal of this year! I’m so happy that I managed to keep this up, and I hope it’s inspired some people to take a step out of their comfort zone towards reducing meat consumption.